April 2012

Josh and Hamish at Buffalo Park on the flying fox.

Isabella playing in the sand under the flying fox.

Sammy and Hamish at Buffalo Park.

In April we found our first au pair, Sarah, from Canada who happened to already be in Sydney. It was only for four months and she was a perfect introduction for us to the world of au pairs! This is the photo she sent us! Very nerve wracking meeting at Macquarie centre for the first time. Her first day coincided with my first day at work. A very stressful time all round! My mum was lovely and helped Sarah with the kids for the first two days of the term which was really more for my peace of mind than anything!

Copying the names of classmates off of her class list.

Completed egg parcels.

Sarah and her sister.

In April the weather was perfect to go to Buffalo Park and play on the equipment. Josh took Hamish on the flying fox for the first time and he loved it!

Daddy watching on as Hamish tries the equipment at the beach.

Playing at the beach.

Escaping in the sand towards the pretty legs.

Isabella and I made some lovely chocolate egg parcels to give to her classmates. We used some paint cards from Bunnings which I cut into egg shapes and then Isabella very carefully and conscientiously wrote her class mates names on each label.

Easter decorations.

Easter decorations.

David's study in the process of being cleaned out.

Looking into the study.

Looking from the window to the door of the study.

The weather was okay to go to the beach. Not warm enough to swim, but certainly a lovely day to play in the sand and check out the play equipment at the beach.

The Easter Bunny did come!

Isabella with new Easter pyjamas and her eggs.

Hamish knows where the chocolate eggs go!

Josh with his chocolate egg haul!

He's almost taller than his mother!

Sammy with her eggs and Easter pyjamas.

A delicious Easter breakfast!

In between Easter, school holidays and getting ready for me to go back to work David was cleaning out his office now that NPS had an office in Chatswood so that we could make room for the arrival of Sarah. What a mess! Luckily it tidied up really nicely and made a nice bedroom. Unfortunately for Sarah we didn't have it totally finished when she arrived. But before she left we had put in a TV, a heater, a wardrobe and a set of draws to finish it off.

Sarah's room is almost ready!

Isabella next to Sarah's bed.

Office conversion for our au pair

Sending Hamish off to long day care has caused me more and more angst the closer I got to returning to work. Hamish is just so little still and not walking yet and leaving him in the care of strangers in a new environment was giving me sleepless nights. Somehow I got onto the conversation of getting an au pair with a friend and after quite a bit of research I decided that this was going to make returning to work easier.

Finding an au pair ended up being an interesting exercise. We found a perfect match very quickly except our dates didn't match. In the end I decided that we'd go with our first choice and then find someone else to fill in until Signe gets here. That was all fine and good except we couldn't find anyone willing to only do four months for a long time. Then along came Sarah. We were so grateful to find another good match for our family.

That was fine, but the next thing that was needed was to turn David's office into a bedroom. He had just moved his business out of our home and so we had the space for an au pair but not any furniture to make a bedroom. It was actually a lot of fun setting up a bedroom. Here are some photos that show the change. We still need to get a wardrobe, but it looks nice and Sarah said the bed was cosy. I think that means we've done well.

There's a small desk as soon as you come in the room with a little lamp. As you look around the room you can see a queen size bed with a mirror above it and the wreath I made and then two bedside tables with a lamp on the first table. We need to get another lamp at some stage. Under the window is a dresser with some empty green Ikea boxes. In the corner is a heater that you can't see and then some shelves and the door our of the room. Behind the desk I've now cleaned up David's record (LP) collection and we will put a TV there. Hopefully that will be put there tomorrow. We're hoping to find a small wardrobe that will fit into the corner of the room to the right of the window.

Dining room table

The table has now been out of our house for nearly 2 weeks. Very frustrating. I just had to sand and paint it now didn't I. What a silly thing to do. We're now paying for my haste in starting the table when the weather was really not ready for painting. Luckily David has been out there today masking off the table top from the legs and then painting the table. He's managed two coats so far. I've only taken photos after the first coat, but it looks good so far. And the best thing is when its finally finished it will be all ours and the change of table will have cost us next to nothing.

A little present

I decided that since my maternity leave is coming to an end I have to finish a ton of jobs I've wanted to do over the last year. But let's face it who has time to do anything with a new baby!!
So since I'm now down to 10 days until I'm due back at school these projects are calling my name. Since its school holidays and the kids are able to entertain Hamish for a little while I thought I would start sanding our dining room table.
I got under the house and found the electric sander, some sanding paper and of course the extension cord and then needed to take the legs off the enormously heavy table so that we could get it outside. Josh was a wonderful help with that. It's so nice having another man in the house. Not quite as strong as Dave yet but stronger than me. Yay.
With the table top on top of a trestle table outside I started sanding. The stupid table kept moving as I sanded so I had to sand around the edges. I wonder if I'm the only one who gets a sore hand while sanding with the vibrating sander in their hand. AND it was taking forever.
I called Dave of course and asked him to bring some courser sand paper home. He is only around the corner from Bunnings at his new office. He dropped everything to get his crazy wife the sand paper she needed to get the job done. Tomorrow I'll be sanding and sanding and then laquering or staining the top and painting the legs. I might even do the coffee table. We'll see how keen I am after tomorrow though.
Poor hubby only got home from work at 8 pm. A very long day. But he came home with a present for little me. My own little sander. Thankyou honey. You're the best.
These are some inspiration photos I took from Freedom Furniture a little French furniture store. I'm not sure what the colour of the wood is yet under the old stain. When the stain has been sanded then I'll decide on what colour to go with.

Ready for Easter

I repainted the bunny to match our colour scheme.

It's 'Easter Eve' the kids tell me and I've been busy decorating the house ready for Easter. The older two have been off with their dad, visiting the zoo and having an early Easter. They've come back with lots of Easter Eggs which they're guarding well, knowing their mother as well as they do!
It was nice to have the table ready for our Easter breakfast tomorrow morning when the kids got home tonight. They were nicely surprised I think. I love surprising them with the magic of Easter, Christmas, birthdays etc. You're only a kid once after all.
We've got a menu of warm croissants followed by egg and bacon for breakfast in the morning. I'm guessing that our starter will be some yummy chocolate Easter Eggs that the Easter bunny will hopefully leave for us!! I can't wait to see the kids faces in the morning when they see the Easter Eggs.
I still remember that feeling of seeing the Easter Eggs and waiting impatiently for everyone to be up so that we could go and hunt for the eggs. So much excitement.

Paper cup wreath made in a few minutes with hot glue

Branch decorated with bought eggs.

The table ready for Easter breakfast.

The wreath in steps.

At the entrance I put down a table runner that I'd bought on sale at Spotlight for Christmas. On top of that I placed the three wax, battery powered candles I bought from Costco last year. I topped them with napkin rings I also bought on sale from Spotlight for Christmas last year and put an egg in each that had been blown, washed and dried. I hot glued a little chicken to the top of each one. Then lent the wreath in front of it all. A bit of cheap and cheery Easter decoration.
On the other buffet I put our branch that David helped me find yesterday. We went to the beach to hopefully find a piece of driftwood, but I had no such luck. We did have a lovely day eating out and playing on the sand with the kids. But no driftwood. On the way home we drove past all the places we thought we could hopefully find a branch and just before we reached home I shouted to David to stop the car again. This time I was in luck. A gorgeous branch. It didn't have a long bit to hold itself up so I shoved it into a vase with a small opening and then used little bits of wood to wedge it in place. You wouldn't know it from looking at it though. I was hoping to spray paint it white but I didn't have time. Maybe next year. I hung up some decorations that I bought from Bed, Bath and Table for a few dollars. They look very cute. I had also painted some real eggs blue, written the kids names on them and then threaded them with cord. I think it turned out nicely and the kids loved having their names on the eggs.
The table is decorated with Ikea plates and cups and the Spotlight table cloth that I bought at Christmas time on special. I wish I had thought to buy some flowers to decorate the centre of the table with. I had to make do with a bowl with green Easter paper and blown eggs. Not very fancy, but they'll do.
We're all going to drink our water out of wine glasses since it's a special occasion and the kids will probably drink some very weak tea.
As I type this we're sitting on the edge of our seats watching Dante's Peak. An oldie but a goody. Sammy's already asked me who dies. I'm as bad as her with scary movies and hate not knowing what's about to happen. So I had to tell her that the main characters don't die but some characters do die.
I leave this post with a quick look at how I made the wreath. I found the wreath on pinterest and though it was so easy that I had to make it. You can find the original here. Much nicer than mine.
David's downstairs finishing emptying out the office. It's council clean up on Monday and so all the stuff we want to get rid of will be picked up by council. I'm so excited to be able to do up a new room. It's for our upcoming au pair. I will update soon...

Two before and afters

Some recently completed pieces of furniture.
And an almost after. I have to get a key plate to cover the whole in the door and some white paint needs to be painted blue.
And my other beautiful cupboard.
And the after.